In this day and age when people's mantra is "I need my privacy", not many people are comfortable about having their entire medical history recorded and digitized for almost just anybody to see - in other words, incursion into people's privacy. EMRs can lead to loss of the human touch in health care. In the process of digitalization, the interpersonal aspect in health care may be lost. In handwritten hospital charts, doctors and other health care practitioners may write what they think and they feel based on their personal observations in their very own words. EMR is simply about ticking off boxes and crossing out things in electronic forms.
Administrative Ethics HCS 335 Administrative Ethics Patient privacy is very important to many people around the world. People do not want other people looking into their personal information such as their health issues. It is a very private matter and it is a person’s choice if they want to share that information or not. When a patient speaks to their physician about their health issues, it is done in private for a reason. It is so the patient can be honest and open without judgment and the physician can correctly diagnose the patient on the symptoms that the patient is sharing.
When guidelines are not followed, due to employees abusing their privileges, it places the hospital at risk. Another issue here is that the HIPPA laws is being violated, which was specifically placed to protect patient’s private information. HIPPA was established in 1996 to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the privacy and security of health care information, as well as help the healthcare industry control administrative costs (“HIPPA,” 2013). Failure to comply with HIPPA accordingly will lead to civil and civic penalties. If someone knowingly and deliberately distributes or obtains patient information, they could face a fine
This paper will discuss confidentiality, confidentiality breach implications, ethical principles, alternatives and ethical committee applications to an ethical dilemma. Implications When There is a Breach of Confidentiality The promotion of a trusting and working relationship between the healthcare provider and patient is an obvious reason to maintain confidentiality in healthcare. Releasing personal information to a third party without prior consent of the client is known as a breach of confidentiality and also has legal ramifications. An example would be an adolescent who is encouraged to participate in primary health care prevention. Many teens face depression and may have sexual related issues, but the challenge for them to get adequate and necessary treatment can be an issue.
This form is shorter than the others, as the fact that the patient is expected to remain alert during the procedure makes some of the information covered in forms 1 and 2 unnecessary. The use of this form is optional. • Form 4 for adults who lack capacity to consent to a particular treatment. As no-one else can give consent on behalf of such a patient, they may only be treated if that treatment is believed to be in their ‘best interests’. This form requires health professionals to document both how they have come to the conclusion that the patient lacks the capacity to make this particular healthcare decision, and why the proposed treatment would be in the patient’s best interests.
This causes a potential loss of business from the patient and whoever the patient tells about the incident. Before long, the hospital will have a bad reputation in the community’s eyes. This is never a good thing for any health care team member involved. Depending on the severity of the breach, it’s also possible that someone can lose their medical license on top of being fined. A health care team must learn to obey the rules and regulations of the HIPAA Privacy
Chapter 2: Principles of Autonomy and Informed Consent The principle of autonomy states one shall not treat a patient without the informed consent of the patient or his or her lawful surrogate, except in narrowly defined emergencies. The patient’s free will is exercised even though they may not demonstrate the capacity of developing their own decisions. The health care professional, by irrefutable law, is required to respect patient’s rights while providing a clear understanding to the consequences of their decisions. Although some patients are legally incompetent they are still ethically competent to make decisions about their treatment. The informed consent presents the treatment information in an understandable manner in an effort to avoid any misunderstandings leading to a possible delay in care.
47). Many people see nurses as compassionate caregivers, but the law doesn’t grant absolute protection for all free-willed acts of benevolence. If a nurse is asked to perform medical care on an individual outside of work in a non-emergency situation, he or she could be held liable if they injure that person. Although they may feel uncomfortable refusing to help, facing them in court could be much worse. As a nurse, advising them to pursue care from a professional who knows their medical history would be a smart thing to do.
2007). These principles work in collaboration with each other for the patient, which endeavours to do the best in order to protect the patient from any harm (Dimond, 2008). However, Pozar (2006), Griffiths and Tenghah (2008) argue these two principles should outweigh respect for autonomy in life threatening situations, except when a competent patient is able to comprehend the life-threatening risk without the influence of others, then legally and morally professionals must respect the patient’s right to autonomy. Yet with regards to justice there is an obligation to treat people fairly and not to judge or discriminate against them in anyway (Dimond 2008). Whereas by definition, paternalism restricts a person’s right to autonomy, and takes another person’s autonomous right away and makes decision on their behalf, even if it is contrary to the wishes of the patient (Beauchamp and Childress 2001).
These differences have resulted in some gaps in medical service. Quality The Department of Veterans Affairs has been recognized as a leader in improving the quality of health care, including pioneering work in the implementation of technologies and systems to improve the delivery of care. VA leadership has also been recognized for the establishment of a quality measurement program that holds regional managers accountable for processes in preventive care and in the management of common chronic conditions. The Department of Defense also has undertaken major quality improvement initiatives. However, there have been some difficulties in sharing information between the two departments in part because the two Departments have differing interpretations of federal privacy provisions governing the sharing of individually identifiable health data.